In Reverence to the Feminine : Jennika Bastian | Daphne

Oil on Canvas
40’’ x 30’’

Artist Statement

Based in Albany | unceded Ohlone land

Jennika Bastian is a Bay Area based magical realism painter and mask maker. One of her favorite quotes is "Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths," by Joseph Campbell. She views her artwork as a dance between these realms. When Jennika was 5 years old she taught herself how to lucid dream. Her aesthetic is informed by how objects, environments and characters appear in her dreams: shape shifting, ephemeral, simultaneously growing and decaying. She is fascinated by mythology and folklore in different cultures- particularly how these tales can thread within our subconscious minds, almost as if the stories are organisms unto themselves.

Daphne

Daphne is a naiad from Greek mythos- a female water nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. She turns into a tree to escape the advances of Apollo because she doesn’t share his love. In the original myth, this transformation is out of desperation and her voice is perpetually silenced, only being able to communicate through the rustle of leaves. For this piece, I wanted to display her transformation as an act of empowerment. Trees are symbols of strength, individuality and expression, calmness, growth and the interconnectedness of everything. I painted her with the intention of exuding these emotions and traits, rewriting the myth. 

In Rapture of Psyche

A queer lover version of Willam Bougereau's famous painting, "The Abduction of Psyche." In Greek Mythos, Psyche (the Woman on the left), was the most beautiful mortal in the lands, so lovely that Aphrodite was overcome with jealousy and ordered her daughter Eros the god(dess) of Love to use her powers to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest, most vile creature in the world. She agreed, but as soon as Eros laid eyes on Psyche she fell madly in love.